Issue 319  August 17th 2022

Farmhouse Designed By Frank Lloyd Wright On Sale

The Fawcett house is one of the best examples of Frank Lloyd Wright’s unconventional approach to design. For Wright, architecture was a great living spirit from which generation to generation, from age to age, proceeds, persists and creates according to the nature of men and his circumstances as they change.

In nearly seventy years Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture became synonymous of revolution. He destroyed the traditional concept of the box by creating rooms that were open and free flowing. His structure’s were not built on the land but of the land.

They were built not to be looked at but to be lived in. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fawcett House in Los Banos, CA, is considered one of his masterpieces, being built in 1955. The single-story structure has a total square footage of 3800 square feet, designed in a triangular grid base. The complete design aspect is triangular, even in details such as the carpet for the living room and triangular shaped skylights to let natural light inside.

From the carport driveway to the forecourt leading to the main entrance, the structure is winged out in three different directions, capturing once again the triangular theme.

In July, 2012 a premier restoration was completed in consultation with Eric Lloyd Wright, Wright’s grandson, and overseen by Arthur Dyson, a Taliesin Associated architect.

Dyson studied the original plan extensively and in close collaboration with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives, members of the Taliesin Fellowship and owners of the house, the restoration took place. This restoration allowed the Fawcett House to reclaim its place as a representative of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture.

Now the rare combination of a rural farm and a home is on the market for $4.25 million. See it by clicking here.

Click for more details: fresnobee.com  

What's It Like To Stay Overnight In A Frank Lloyd Wright House?

Amy Bertrand of Travels With Amy fills us in on her stay at the Mantyla House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

"There aren’t many places you can stay the night in a bedroom designed by Frank Lloyd Wright."

"The Price Tower in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was designed by the renowned architect, so that’s an option for a hotel stay, but a whole house? For that, head to Polymath Park in Acme, Pennsylvania, where two Wright-designed homes are available for overnight accommodations."

"We stayed at Mäntylä House. Mäntylä, Finnish for “among the pines,” was originally built in 1952 for the R.W. Lindholm family in northern Minnesota. In 2019, with the help of the Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy, Heather and Tom Papinchak saved it, dismantled it and meticulously rebuilt in the woods at its new home. Coincidentally — or not — trees (including some pines) surround it."

"At $750 a night, it’s a splurge. And if you love Wright, it’s worth every penny to spend time in the house and see just how he situated the windows for maximum lighting and airflow (there is no air conditioning), to see the clever way he created an office both separate and within the living area, to experience his compression and release technique as the narrow hallways open to big spaces." Listen to theentire article and see the photos by clicking here.

Click for more details: stltoday.com  

A Quincy Architectural Gem: The History Museum On The Square

One of Illinois’ little known architectural treasures is the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County’s History Museum on the Square at 332 Maine in downtown Quincy. Housed in a beautifully maintained Romanesque Revival structure which was completed in 1888, the building served as the Quincy Public Library until 1974. In 1977, the structure, designed by the Chicago architectural firm of Patton and Fisher, was sold to a group of Quincy citizens and became the Gardner Museum of Architecture and Design. That museum closed in 2012, and the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County accepted both the ownership and assets of the building. Today, the edifice serves as the home of the Society’s History Museum on the Square.

On the second floor of the Museum, the Stained Glass Gallery is housed in the large, open, original library reading room, which is now used for meetings, programs and events with seating for approximately seventy-five people. Most of the stained-glass panels displayed here are from no-longer-extant Quincy area churches and commercial buildings, as well as historic stained-glass studios, and include pieces by Tiffany and Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as by the Franz Mayer Glass Works and the Lamb Studios of New York and Berlin. Among the scenes portrayed are the “Annunciation Window,” the “St. James of Ulm Window,” and the gorgeous, multi-paneled “Christ at the Door Window.”

At any given time, the Museum offers a variety of permanent and changing exhibits. Read more here.

Click for more details: whig.com